Strategizing between Price and Convenience to Get More Customers

Understanding the direct connection between pricing and convenience is an essential area of your business, it’s the thin line between getting more customers and not getting any at all. How much you price your product or service will give a certain impression to your target market. A product that is over-priced may immediately turn-off customers without even trying it, but don’t think that totally lowering the price will make people try it —an overly low priced item will sometimes make customers doubt its quality.

                                                                                                      

Have you ever had that experience when you’re shopping for something and can’t seem to decide between two almost similar products? While you want to get your money’s worth by getting something affordable, you don’t want to get a low quality or faulty product just to save money. A well-strategized and marketed product must show consumers a clear relation between its price, its convenience, and quality. This is why there are certain products in the market that sell more than its cheaper counterpart—simply because consumers understand why it is priced that way. Customers are willing to pay for premium-priced merchandise, as long as they see the actual quality of what they are paying for. If you plan on getting more customers to enjoy your product or service, selling it cheap just won’t cut it.

There are some essential considerations when deciding how to package your product, how much to sell it, and the major benefits to highlight to consumers. Getting more customers to take notice of your product and services takes a whole lot of strategy and planning. Here are a few quick tips:

• ·         You need to get a good understanding of what your target market needs and wants. Bottom line is, if you’re selling something that really doesn’t present a clear solution to a pressing need then no one will buy it. Knowing what your consumers want is also critical; why would you sell a bunch of cooking products to high school kids? Know what they want.

• ·         In deciding on a product’s price, make sure you consider the cost of production; obviously, you can’t price something lower than what it cost your business to produce. Make a research of your competitors in the industry and find out their price range.

• ·         Highlight the product’s uniqueness and the convenience it offers. By strategically communicating these to your target demographic, you will be able to justify the price range you have set. Again, getting more customers is not all about going cheap. You just need to help your customers understand its price based on the benefits they will get and the quality you offer.   

• ·         Set a balance. Just because you offer some unique benefits, it doesn’t mean you can charge them double than industry standards. Customers are looking for convenience and affordability. They may be willing to pay a few dollars more for something that seems better, but may feel ripped off if you charge too much. In getting more customers, make sure to set a balance between pricing, and convenience and quality.

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Employee Rewards in UK: Positive or Negative Reinforcement?

Every employee will reach their breaking point at a certain time in their career. Burn out and stress are inevitable. Sometimes, factors in the workplace, at home, and other personal concerns add up and take its toll on a person. When this happens, people start showing signs of inefficiency and their daily progress is hampered. A manager must be able to spot these signs in his employees to address the problem immediately.

You may think that the monthly paycheck and benefits the employees receive are enough motivation for them to perform at their best, but the reality is, employees are not machines. As a manager, you need to be more creative in providing employee rewards to keep you workers happy and focused.

One of the best ways to motivate employees is by positive reinforcement. People are innately in need of assurance from authority that what they are doing is appreciated. You may be surprised that simple words of affirmation may go a long way in encouraging employees to continue with their good work. Building employee trust is also a very important form of positive reinforcement. Showing a person that you trust him with bigger responsibilities because you see great potential in him may turn a hard working staff into your top performer. While you may be hard-pressed at thinking of what employee rewards to give, you might want to start with a few words of affirmation and motivation. These are free and very effective.

Other managers employ a different technique, called negative reinforcement. This is not necessarily punishment. Look at it as a warning that will help steer a team to the right direction. Some employees are obviously more in need of negative reinforcement to help them regain their focus and efficiency. While other employees would be more motivated with a few praises and gestures of trust, other may need something more of a gentle warning and a closer guidance.

Employeerewards are another great way to motivate employees. Providing tangible rewards like free gadgets, clothes, or gift certificates are very effective ways to get employees to do better in their work. Having some sort of prize in mind for reaching a target naturally challenges people to try harder. Other organizations give out cash bonuses or salary increases for the employee with the most sales or most deals made. Another simple example of employee rewards in UK are certificates for “Employee of the Month.” Though these are only simple printed certificates, the thought of being recognized as the best among many other employees is a huge motivation booster.

Always remember that your employees, just like any other person, needs some form of motivation. It is innate in every person to need affirmation and assurance that they are doing well.

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How to Execute an Effective Employee Wellness Program

Healthy employees translate to a better business, regardless of industry and employment type. You won’t find any employer who isn’t affected by sickly, tardy, and sloppy people, because these people affect production rate, costs the company in terms of paid benefits, and might even affect the health of their co-workers. At the same time, unhealthy employees can’t provide great output because they are unhappy, stressed, exhausted, and sluggish. Considering that, there are still some employers who see employee wellness as a benefit, when in fact it should be routine because they won’t be successful unless they care for their employees’ well-being.

Successful people achieve what they do because they feel good. Therefore, if you want to maximize the performance of your people, you need to establish an effective employee wellness program. Not sure where to start? Here’s how you can turn an employee benefit, into an investment that will give you thousands in return.

Launching the Perfect Employee Wellness Program

• Figure out what your needs and your employees needs are

The only way to determine this is by looking at both sides. Try to understand how your people think and what challenges they encounter. A great way to identify the problem areas is by conducting health risk assessments, employee surveys and comparing monthly performance against attendance records.

• Examine the data gathered and formulate a plan

By examining the data gathered, you can figure out what type of benefits will work for most of your employees. For instance, will your employees be motivated by fitness classes, or would they prefer health assessments or wellness workshops? The goal here is to find out which health needs you can provide; in budget, and the possible returns you can get by providing such benefit; such as less attrition, increased sales, and less sick leaves.

• Establish a communication plan

Reinforcement is important to establish the importance of wellness in your company’s culture. In order to achieve this, you will need to create a communication plan, which outlines the framework of the program and the different ways to relay the information to your people. This way, everyone will know that you are offering such benefits and what you plan to achieve by offering them.

• Come up with an incentive plan

If you really want to see change, then you need to reward the employees who are making an effort to be healthy. It has been proven that this is one of the quickest ways to get the results you want, especially if some of your employees can’t find time for such programs. Yes, the main reason for having a wellness program is to make your employees healthier, but you can’t excite everyone just by saying they’re going to be healthier. In most cases, a wellness program has to be coupled with another reward to get things going. You have to admit, even if an individual wants to stay healthy, sometimes it is easier said than done, so rewards will certainly help.

Employee wellness should be taken seriously, after all; you have invested money in training them. By following these pointers, you can execute an effective wellness program that your employees can follow throughout the year. Remember, the healthier your people are, the better the outcome you can expect.

Photo Credits: Flickr Creative Commons

Customers Need Value in Exchange for their Information

Today, more and more companies aim to monetize the customer information they accumulate. They do this by targeting ads and promos based on customer preferences and history, or by sharing it with commercial partners. But before all that happens, the customer must first give their data willingly. How in the world will that happen? For starters, businesses must gain the trust of their customers first by ensuring that the advantages of signing up for a service, filling a survey, or getting subscription are clear for everyone. They must willingly give their data, and they won’t do that unless they see what’s in it for them.

Over the years, having detailed customer information has proved to be very powerful for many brands. Personalizing your campaigns leads to effective rewards program. In addition, with this data, you can make improvements for an overall improved customer experience.

Exchanging Value between Your Brand and Customers

Part of the basics of modern marketing today is the way businesses and customers communicate freely and quickly. There are three main points to creating this exchange that includes:

• The exchange of money for products and services
• Customers sharing information in exchange for a reward, freebie, discount or exclusive access
• The commitment and delivery of an enhanced customer experience

Making Customers See the Benefit

When you are collecting data for customer rewards, it is important that your target market see the clear benefit in providing and sharing their data with you. Of course, there are always others out there who aren’t comfortable with divulging their personal information and that is okay. Make it known as well that there is an opt-out option and providing their information isn't a requirement. Here are some tips to your customers see the benefit:

• Provide an incentive – this could be a free gift, discount, etc.
• Show proof of what you offer – you can do this through posting videos, testimonials, reviews, or images.
• Show a sample – giving customers a glimpse of the rewards they will get will excite them, and give them more reasons to provide their info.
• Make your privacy policy clear – reassuring customers that their information will be kept private will make them feel more comfortable about sharing their data.

Customer Research

Customer research is vital to getting the right information, along with offering the best experience possible for them. Your work doesn’t stop at just obtaining customer data. You need to continue to build trust and educate customers so that it is clear to them where and how their information will be used. This is a difficult task because not a lot of consumers see the benefit of filling out a form. You can change this attitude by giving them control on what information they choose to share.

Data harvesting for customer rewards will benefit everyone. As a company, you will be able to enhance customer experience by knowing customer preferences, and providing value added services based on their needs. The data collected will also enable you to plan strategies that will broaden your market. Customers, on the other hand, will gain from the rewards you provide and will benefit from the product improvements that you are able to implement from the details you acquire.

Photo Credits: Flickr Creative Commons